Grangemouth couple have shared a life for 60 years

James Trimble

A couple shared interests and a joy for volunteering as well as love for each other over the course of their 60-year marriage.

Jim and Jessie Paterson are celebrating their Diamond Wedding anniversary today (Thursday) in their home at Smallburn Place in Grangemouth.

It was not quite love at first sight for the couple, who met as teenagers in the early 1950s.

Jessie (79) said: “I went for a run on my bike from Bo’ness to Zetland Park in Grangemouth. Jim was there with the Boys’ Brigade.”

Two years on from that first glimpse and the couple were seriously contemplating marriage. However, there was the small matter of Jim’s national service.

Jim (81) said: “I was in the Army at the time, but we were married at Bo’ness Old Church on my very first leave home. Jessie organised it all.”

The couple went on to raise a family of two boys and a girl and over the years have been further blessed with three grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Jessie said: “We’ve enjoyed such an active life with sequence dancing and the two of us were involved in volunteering with the Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Brigade.

“We were also both instructors in the Red Cross.”

Jim, a joiner by trade, worked at Falkirk Hospital’s casualty department every Friday for 15 years putting his first aid training to good use.

Jessie, who was a social work driver, said: “I never thought we would last this long. Some of our friends separated or lost their partners, but we are still here together.”

A founder member of Grangemouth’s popular Share-A-Craft group, Jessie shares a birthday with beloved funny man Eric Morecombe, a fact that is immortalised in the picture book her grandson created to mark Jim’s life.

The couple will be having a small party with family on Saturday to mark their marriage milestone.